Contour 1.3 MkII vs. SE

[CDLehner]

I have always liked the look of these little monitors...

Simple 2-way design, with quality drivers; solid, classic box...small footprint. I saw a guy, practically sitting them out on the curb for the taking; and I couldn't resist the urge to snap them up.

I've had them a while now...and this is when, it gets hard for me to think about dropping 5-figures on speakers :blush:

Sure...they don't thunder, like maybe Jax's IB2s; and they don't have the magical-mids, of my 30.1s...or the extension yet sweetness, of their older brother's Esotar2. But they do ALL of those things, pretty damn well; and as Jax mentioned elsewhere...in near perfect balance.

I had Special 25s for a spell. Man, were they an "exciting" speaker. When they were right...they were right on!! When they were "wrong"; run for ze hills. Dyn guys, gave me a lot of shi...crap; because I was supposed to treat my room, and turn my life upside-down to make them work. Perhaps; but these 1.3 MkIIs, remind me of them...just less (see pic). And in this case...less is more.

Not quite so revealing...not quite so unforgiving; not quite so BIG...and therefore, a much better fit in my room. I had put them on Bedroom duty...with the Denon CEOL :disbelief: Nah...they belong in the Main room, and make me as happy as the Harbies.

 

[CDLehner]

Bumpinstein. Let's weigh-in Dyn dudes

 

[jaxwired]

Gorgeous speakers. I wonder how they compare to the focus 140s. They are in the higher contour line but the focus 140 is the newer design. I suspect that your contour is the better speaker though. Built to a higher standard I would guess.

 

[amatuerholic]

What are you talking about? The Focus 140s simply cannot be beaten

I, of course, have no personal interest or bias!

 

[jaxwired]

Well, I've never actually heard either so you could well be right. : )

 

[amatuerholic]

The be honest though, I'm listening to Lily Allen right now on the F140s and it sounds really natural with a solid center image. I don't know if it's an insult or compliment, but sometimes at lower volumes I used to wonder whether or not I had the TV speakers on because the center image was so solid. My dad has some older contour 1.1s that I can take a look at when I'm home next week. He's also got some Focus 140s and just picked up a pair of Harbeth 30.1s.

It'll be a fun visit

 

[octadyndude]

I have always liked the look of these little monitors...

Simple 2-way design, with quality drivers; solid, classic box...small footprint. I saw a guy, practically sitting them out on the curb for the taking; and I couldn't resist the urge to snap them up.

I've had them a while now...and this is when, it gets hard for me to think about dropping 5-figures on speakers :blush:

Sure...they don't thunder, like maybe Jax's IB2s; and they don't have the magical-mids, of my 30.1s...or the extension yet sweetness, of their older brother's Esotar2. But they do ALL of those things, pretty damn well; and as Jax mentioned elsewhere...in near perfect balance.

I had Special 25s for a spell. Man, were they an "exciting" speaker. When they were right...they were right on!! When they were "wrong"; run for ze hills. Dyn guys, gave me a lot of shi...crap; because I was supposed to treat my room, and turn my life upside-down to make them work. Perhaps; but these 1.3 MkIIs, remind me of them...just less (see pic). And in this case...less is more.

Not quite so revealing...not quite so unforgiving; not quite so BIG...and therefore, a much better fit in my room. I had put them on Bedroom duty...with the Denon CEOL :disbelief: Nah...they belong in the Main room, and make me as happy as the Harbies.

Chris - like I've always said - there is no bad sounding DYn speaker. They are all world class period. After having the original C1's ($7k) for about 6 months I had the Audience 42's ($950) for a day. Holy cr@p - it made me think were the C1's even twice as good as the Audience 42's?? At 7.36 times the cost of C1's is the cost to performance ratio there? Umm - not in my opinion - not even close. I decided to go for the performance forgoing the cost. That's me. Talk about getting $hit and cr@p for going 1 up on the C1 sigs on the 'other' forum. I'll go as far to say here on AS that the Ho's sound best with little or no room treatment (read the Raidho forum). But like I've said a million times on that other forum I've paid dearly (compared to the C1 Signature cost) to get those little better pieces of the performance sound. But comparatively speaking cost wise to the A42 vs C1Sig I'm right there. Yeah I've heard the D5's and it's hard to go back to my lowly D1's but I manage. 5 figures is nice but you know there is a point of diminishing returns. For me I think it starts back at the A42's.

I read something the other day that somewhats applies.
Yesterday is History and Tomorrow is a Mystery. Today is a gift - Why? because that's why they call it the 'PRESENT'!! Don't me wrong because I still have to consider tomorrow (I hope at least another 30 yrs from now).

 

[KeithR]

The 1.3SEs were better than the Special 25s imo. The Specials had a tilted up treble.

The C1 is better than the 1.3SE, but that's about it. Those 1.3SEs sell within 48 hours when a pair pops up. All time classic monitor.

 

[rob80b]

The 1.3SEs were better than the Special 25s imo. The Specials had a tilted up treble.

New guy here, old guy elsewhere.

Thought I’d give my 2 cents worth regarding these classic Dyns, seeing I still own the 1.3MKIIS ands the 25s, in fact mine look exactly like the ones posted by CD, I even have the same telephone.

Anyway with regards to the 25s tilted top-end just want to refute that this is definitely not the global consensus, as I‘ve personally yet to experience “it” if it’s not on the recording, the 25 IMHO are an extremely linear monitor from top to bottom.
Now the 25s with their Esotar tweeter can be a lot more revealing and airier than the 1.3MKIIs, which appear to be more laid back and less critical of poor recordings but with some recordings the 1.3s and 25s can sound remarkably alike and with very good recordings the 25s clearly pulling ahead.
But for the sake of argument so as not to refute what others have experienced, as I’m sure they have heard what they have heard, a few possible scenarios is that those with better (younger ears) are hearing what the 25s are capable of revealing upstream, garbage in garbage out and not that actual nature of the 25s top end; or…. maybe it come down to room interaction, therefore room set up and ancillary equipment… or ..indeed the 25s have a tilted top end but some of us older or even younger audiophiles with prematurely damaged ears, really do not hear it.

But the bottom line is that there are thousands of proud Special 25 owners out there and there is no unanimous consensuses that indeed the 25s have a tilted up top end.

Now with regards to the 1.3SEs, which I had my eye on prior to procuring my 25s, an educated guess would be that they sit somewhere in between, probably closer to the 1.3MKIIS than the 25s, but overall it's still refreshing that all 3 still garner a fair amount of interest and appreciation after almost a decade and a half since their inception.

 

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum rob80b! Thank you for joining.

 

[CDLehner]

Hey Rob; welcome to the Tank!

You know...the more speakers I listen to; and maybe start to understand drivers, and especially cross-overs (and the role they play in sound; cross-overs that is...not drivers and cross-overs, because that's rather obvious...lol). The more I think the problem I had with the 25s...was, in fact, in the mid-range.

That "shout-y", "fatiguing" nature...just in my experience...feels like strident highs; but really...again, the more I think back...I think was actually the result of a hot middle.

The 25...and I'm not trying to continually pound on it; because a) admittedly...I did not treat my room for it, nor really hang in there long enough to maybe ride-out its quirks and b) both Jax and I...who have been critical...are both true Brits, in our preferences. And they're about 180-degrees from Dyns

But to me...the 25 is like "I know...let's put our best mid/bass driver; and our best tweeter...into a one-off cabinet. And that'll be a great speaker". On paper...that should work; and for many, as you say...it does. But for me...they crossed-over, way too high. Specs say 2400; by comparison...the C1 is 1800.

Still...there's a certain siren-song of that speaker; that always makes me wonder, what if? :skeptical:

Admittedly...I also didn't have the best kit then; and as you point out...they were ultra-revealing. Knowing what I know now; I bet it would work much, much better...with tubes, or class A. Hmmmm

 

[rob80b]

Borderdog and I both have the original signature editions so maybe there is something there,......... “shout-y” could indicate a problem of integration at the cross-over, but again many factors could be at play.
But as I mentioned my 1.3MKIIs and 25s can sound down-right similar with certain material, so if there was a problem with the integration of the drivers and crossover it would be evident with all material, which is definitely not the case. The 25s IMHO are just a bigger, better and more refined, logical evolution of the philosophy put into the 1.3s.
Mind you I’ve actually come across a few posts elsewhere indicating that the laid back 1.3MKIIS are “shout-y” and “fatiguing” ?????? :S

 

[CDLehner]

Hmm...just looked up, cross-over for the 1.3 line; and came across some interesting notes in the Stereophile review.

First of all Rob, you're right; looks like cross-over in the original 1.3...was 2k, but that was bumped to 2600(!) in the mk II

"While the crossover slopes are still specified at 6dB/octave, the crossover frequency has moved up from 2kHz to 2.6kHz."

Here are some other notes:

"The Dynaudio proved quite sensitive to listener ear height. I found the best integration between the drive-units to be just below the tweeter axis—listen above that axis, and a narrow band in the mid-treble is increasingly evident. Tonally, the Contour 1.3 is balanced on the cool side, with a little too much energy apparent in the 5kHz-10kHz octave."

"Downsides? Just one: The speaker's mid-treble balance could be too unforgiving at times, which will make matching the 1.3 Mk.II with ancillary components somewhat difficult. Use a CD player that itself tends to brightness and recorded trumpets will acquire too much of a chromium-plated edge."

It appears JA and I...have similar ears

Look...Dyns are a fine speaker; I cut my teeth with them...and even though I've moved on, I have nothing bad to say. You know me...I'm just brutally honest; because I think if there's no malice in your thought, there's no reason not to be.

Some find Dyns too bright; some too dark? It takes all kinds in this hobby, right? I've found a better balance, in the best Brits; but they don't have the bass and highs of Dyns. At least not apparently so.

The FR, on my PMC FACT 3s...is 35-30; Special 25s...35-25. If you were to ask me, which had "bigger" bass; I'd laugh. 25s, by a land-slide. But...as I've said elsewhere; I think a lot of what we hear, as "bass"...is more mid-bass. After all...any of us dare, taking a hearing test...even the online kind; to see if we can actually hear 35, 40, 50Hz tones...at -3/6 db?

So my current conclusions are...the more you try to wring, big bass; from smaller drivers and cabinets (stand-mounts)...the more pronounced mid-bass hump, you're likely to incur. That fuc...muddles the mids

I just wonder; if with that big, Evidence driver...if they didn't need to set the cross-over so high. Back it down, sacrifice a little "BOOM"; and make a more well-rounded speaker.

But see...people who like the 25, and Sapphire; they don't want "well-rounded". They wants thrills and chills, every time they sit and listen. Can't say that's a bad approach

 

[rob80b]

……………..Here are some other notes:

"The Dynaudio proved quite sensitive to listener ear height. I found the best integration between the drive-units to be just below the tweeter axis—listen above that axis, and a narrow band in the mid-treble is increasingly evident. Tonally, the Contour 1.3 is balanced on the cool side, with a little too much energy apparent in the 5kHz-10kHz octave."

………………….."

It appears JA and I...have similar ears

…………………….So my current conclusions are...the more you try to wring, big bass; from smaller drivers and cabinets (stand-mounts)...the more pronounced mid-bass hump, you're likely to incur. That fuc...muddles the mids

………………….

Hey CD

Probably a lot of truth spoken there, I’m the first to admit my 60+ hearing drops like a stone above 11kHz so a 5kHz-10kHz boost probably rounds things out quiet nicely.:blush:

Totally agree that there is only so much bass you can ring out a two-way monitor before messing with everything else, all depends on listening habits and as good as the 25’s Esotar 8” driver is I still prefer keeping it crossed over between 70-80Hz and let a good sub handle the rest.
I’d love to revisit the C1s to see if my initial observations still hold true, sad to say though we lost our only major Dyn dealer years ago here in Toronto but I’ve always felt the 25s are more in the vein of an excellent studio monitor (my preference) and the C1s its domesticated counter part.